Spreading of non-Newtonian fluids and surfactant solutions on solid surfaces

Rafaı¨, Salima and Daniel Bonn

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2005, vol. 358, issue 1, 58-67

Abstract: The spreading of Newtonian fluids onto smooth solid substrates is well known; the speed of the contact line is given by a competition between capillary driving forces and viscous dissipation, yielding Tanner's law R∝t1/10. Here, we study the spreading of droplets of complex fluids having either surfactants or polymers dissolved in the fluid. It turns out that both surfactants and polymers slow down the spreading. A special type of surfactants (trisiloxanes), however, leads to a “superspreading”, in which the droplet spreads out orders of magnitude quicker than with usual surfactants. The slowing down of the spreading can be explained quantitatively; however, the mechanism of the speeding up remains a puzzle.

Keywords: Spreading; Tanner's law; Non-Newtonian; Rheology; Marangoni effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:358:y:2005:i:1:p:58-67

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2005.06.017

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